Alternative Battery Cases

With the recent release of the hideous Apple battery case, I’ve taken a look at alternative battery cases available for iPhone users, and would have to say they’re a lot of better options out there than just the Apple branded case.

Taking a quick glance of what “iPhone battery cases” gets me on Amazon, I see that most products by 3rd party companies range from $15-$50. The batteries in each case had roughly similar capacities, but what I found surprising was that it wasn’t price that dictated the capacity of the battery, It appeared like the one thing affecting the price of the case was its appearance. Higher quality, better looking cases were often in that $45-$50 range, where a generic black plastic case was closer to the bottom of the $15-$50 range. The all used a micro USB, like android phones and many other electronic devices do, besides Apple products, to charge the case.  The all additionally had a set of small LEDs that would light up and show the charge while charging the case, and a button that would use the LEDs to show the charge when not charging.

If you choose to pay for the Apple case, you be paying extra compared to any other battery case, because it is an Apple brand product. It's not the hump on the back of the case that really deters me, it's the price. With so many other cases out there with the same, or better capacity, for a lower price, it's clear to me which one I would get.

Apple's Battery Case

If you haven’t seen what’s all over social media and the news recently, Apple has just released their own battery case for the iPhone 6 and 6s. This is great and all, as Apple products generally don’t have the best battery life.

The function of the case is no problem. It easily allows you to put your iPhone in by bending the top of the case back, and simply sliding your phone in. The battery itself gives your phone about an extra charge to it, allowing you to go about double the time with both the phone and case charged.  Another thing that’s great for Apple uses about it, is that it uses Apple’s lightning connector. No longer do you need to manage micro USB cords, along with your Apple lightning cord if you want to get a battery case for your iPhone, you should already have the cables necessary to charge the case. Additionally with the release of the case, there has been a software update that adds support for the phone to show you the percentage of battery left on your battery case along with what is left on your phone.

The problem is though, that this case is hideous. Really, it is. It looks like someone took a cellphone battery, and put it inside a gel case. People say the case is well built, and feels nice to the touch, but that doesn’t get over the fact there there is a very noticeable hump on your phone.  I know some people’s response to this will be like, “Oh it’s just a hump, no big deal to me”.  That’s great if you don’t mind it, but it’s just really strange for a company like Apple who strives for the premium look for their products, and for a case that costs $100, I’d like it to be more pleasant to look at then it turned out to be like.

Apple’s battery case is the newest out of what Apple thought were “good ideas” that somehow took a turn for the worse.  The Apple Pencil is another product that took a turn for the worse. With 3D touch, Apple also released a stylus to complement and build on this new feature. This stylus worked on a battery that as you assumed required to be charged. Instead of having a lightning female end like people assumed it would have, it turned out to be the male side. To charge the pen, you would have to plug it into your iPad. Having something the size of a pencil sticking off of your iPad with only a thin piece of metal connecting to it was a wrecked pen waiting to happen.

Apple’s new wireless mouse also has a design flaw to it. The product looked fine at first, worked perfectly fine. Like all wireless mice, it would run off of some sort of battery. Most wireless mice run off of replaceable AA or AAA batteries.  Apple’s mouse didn’t though, it had it’s own built in rechargeable battery built in. To charge your mouse, you would have to plug in a lightning cord. This port to plug it in through was on the bottom of this mouse. This means to charge the mouse you would have to flip it upside down, preventing you from using it while it is charging. The port could've easily been in a better place, such as in the front like conventional mice have their cable running out of. This would of made it possible to use while it was charging.

Apple is really on a streak of creating great accessories with tragic flaws. If only the battery had been smoothed out or boxed in completely to make a smooth, more premium looking product, this case would of met no resistance by the internet.  We’ll see how well this case sells for an expensive price of $100.

Machine to Recycle Paper

Schools and offices worldwide both go through a ton of paper.  Though a lot of places have put in a firm recycling program for paper and other recycled materials, theses places might now see the direct benefit from it.  A new product from a company that is known from making printers, Epson have created a machine that easily fits in a school or work place.  Epson’s paper recycler is able to take in scrap paper and create new sheets of paper out of it. Feeding it scrap paper, and some water, Epson’s machine will generate 14 pieces of paper per minute.  This isn’t the greatest device, but it’s a way to “shred” paper, and get something back from it. I know that both locations go through so much paper, and a lot of it is either wasted, or thrown into the recycling bin right away.  If this product could be used widely, and possibly multiple machines per building, would rack up to a lot of paper saved and reused right in the building or company. It’s also interesting to see how this device will be improved in the future, allowing companies or school to recycle more paper to create more paper.

Pushbullet

Pushbullet is an app that I've found a while ago, and have fallen in love with since then. It's based on such a simple idea of pushing notification, but has expanded from that. Downloading the Pushbullet app, on your mobile device and computer, gives you the ability to push your mobile devices’ notifications to another device, such as a computer. I find this extremely handy as I spend a lot of my time at my house on or by my computer. Often I'll leave my phone on the table or in my room. Instead of running to check what the notification was, or simply missing it, my phone’s notification will appear on my computer screen in the lower right hand. If you want, you can get more specific on what notifications you want pushed to your computer by muting the apps that you don't want to see their notifications on your computer.

Another cool features is interacting with your notifications from your computer.  If I get an email for example, once the notification from my phone appears on my computer, I'll have the option to reply, delete, and dismiss this notification on my phone all from my computer. This also works with SMS messaging. If you get a text from someone, you'll of course get the notification and option to reply, but choosing to reply brings up a chat bubble of your conversation of texts with your contact, which you can choose to leave up on your screen as you do other tasks. This is great for me as I don't have to keep my phone out and on to keep talking to someone while I'm on the computer. Even cooler to me is the ability to reply to text messages on another mobile device such as a tablet.  Many times I'll take my tablet off to a room to read or watch a video. If someone decides to text me, I have the ability to view and reply to their text all from my tablet.

To me, Pushbullet is a collection of ideas and apps created or thought of by other people all together in one package, and then improved and expanded on. The idea of notification mirroring has been around for a while and was possible, but usually required root access, and then didn't always function the greatest. Pushbullet has expanded the idea by pushing the notifications to your computer not just to other devices. The fact that it just work is also great. Using it for about a year, I haven’t really noticed any problems or concerns with it.

If you spend a lot of time working or playing on a computer, Pushbullet is a great app for you. You’ll be able to see all the notifications from all of your mobile devices, and manage them. You’ll be able to reply to texts right on your computer. Why don’t you try it out?

Surface Tablets

You've probably have heard of a Surface before. If you haven't before, a surface is a tablet made by Microsoft. This tablet is different to an iPad or an Android tablet because it runs windows. A big part of Microsoft’s advertising campaign with the surface is that it's a computer as portable as a tablet. As good as the surface may be, it's just simply not a computer.

Having windows as the operating system gives a surface the ability to do just about anything that a computer can. Every program that functions on your Windows desktop will work on your surface tablet. One big difference for me though is the screen size. Most computers these days I see have around a 20 inch monitor. A surface’s screen is only 12 inches.  The small screen makes it hard to tap on what you want. It's very hard to do a lot of work that's not just typing or reading.

Another feature that the surface lacks is USB ports. Like many “premium” laptop manufacturers who try to decrease the size thickness, and weight of their product, Microsoft has done just that. If you decide to get a surface, you'll have access to only a few ports. For me, one port would be dedicated to a mouse, as I dislike using a touch pad for long periods of time. That only leaves one port for other purposes.

Price is another factor that turns me away. The newest and greatest surface tablet, the Surface Pro 4, starts at $900. That instantly turns me away, as I could easily get a laptop that is just as capable as the surface. Additionally, that $900 doesn’t include a keyboard. Buying the Microsoft brand Surface Keyboard would cost an additional $130+. More than a thousand dollars for a tablet is just crazy in my mind.

Overall, if you have the money to spend on a $1000+ tablet, go ahead.  If I want a tablet, I’ll spend less money on a great Android tablet.  If I want a computer, I’ll go for a cheaper laptop that’s actually a computer.